


Tea Time

by CaptainErica



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, sweet silly nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21940969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: They're dancing around each other, have been.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	Tea Time

Malfoy had recognized her.

To be fair, Hermione thought as she worked to ignore him, she had been surprised that so few people _had_ noticed her.

“Honestly, Granger, I’m appalled by your manners.”

Hermione would know that voice anywhere; cool, collected, and a little greasy like it was used for getting its owner his way. The frown on her face settled quickly and comfortably. It was a look she reserved just for whenever Malfoy was bothering her, and had just the right mix of exasperation and disapproval to portray exactly how she felt about his ridiculousness.

“Ignoring a humble man, just trying to _give_ , you know I’m very big on charity, Granger.”

Hermione shook her head, the frown still present on her face though it was starting to lean toward amused. “Have you made a donation, Malfoy?” She asked, eyebrow raised. “It sounded to me like you were trying to get my attention.”

Malfoy’s answering grin would be strange on his face if she hadn’t seen him do it before. “Ah, too busy ignoring your potential donors, didn’t even notice.”

Hermione shook her head again, exasperated for real now. “Well, now that you’ve given, you’re free to move on. You’re scaring off others.”

With a nod Malfoy was gone, and Hermione can go back to what she was doing.

~

“I’ve already dressed up as an elf, I think one of you should do this one.” Hermione says, leaning into the table over the plate of fries she and Ginny had hoarded for themselves. “ _And_ I was recognized by Malfoy, so I think I’ve done enough volunteering this season.” She says, and Ginny snorts her laughter, similarly leaned over the fries like maybe one of the boys might get too close and take one.

“Listen, I’m not dressing up like one of those elves.” Ron says, pointing his fork at Hermione, and then at Ginny for good measure.

Harry, eyes innocent behind his glasses, pauses with his fork on his plate, “Afraid Malfoy’ll recognize you, too?” He asks, and Ron turns his menacing fork pointing on Harry.

“No.” Ron says, refusing again.

Hermione sighs, brushing her hair out of her face, still amused, but Ginny beats her to a response. “No one’ll recognize you, we’ll cover you up good.” She says, “but the important thing here is that Malfoy recognized Hermione even though she was deeply undercover as a muggle elf taking donations for Mungo’s.”

Harry hums, taking this as his cue to take over with the fork pointing from Ron. “Yeah, tell us about it, did he trip in surprise at seeing you?” He asks, “accidentally dump his purse into your bucket?”

Hermione snorts, ignoring Ron who is nodding along. “No, he spent a while trying to get my attention, and then left.” She says, popping a fry into her mouth. It wasn’t the oddest interaction they’d had with each other, not by a long shot. She did wish he hadn’t seen her dressed up in the ghastly green and red outfit St. Mungo’s had insisted on for _authenticity_.

~

“Ron says Malfoy went by a few times while he was out collecting.” Ginny says as she rather clumsily tries to tie a bow around an equally clumsily wrapped gift for Teddy.

Hermione hums, eyes trained on the lines of the paper she had chosen, making sure they line up perfectly. “He’s a notorious busybody, as we all know.” She says, the spellotape lining up perfectly and blending in seamlessly with the wrapping. “Ron wasn’t dressed as anything embarrassing, so far as I’m aware, why did he care?” She adds, now that she’s finished the present.

Ginny snorts, eyeing Hermione’s pile of perfectly wrapped gifts with a bit of wistfulness as she sets her lumpy package aside. “Guess Malfoy asked why you weren’t there; said Ron’s face was bad for business, which I’m not half-inclined to disagree with.” She says, sighing a little and picking up another gift.

“That was rather rude of him, I’ll have a word.” Hermione says a touch absently. “Ah, no, that one’s from me to Harry, Gin, this one’s your gift to Pansy.” She corrects, waving her hand toward another gift so it floats over to Ginny. “And I suggest putting it in a box, she’ll appreciate the clean lines.”

Ginny makes a softly relieved sound as Hermione floats a box over to her. “Hate this paper, why’re we doing it by hand anyway?” She gripes, catching the box and opening it up.

“Builds character.” Hermione says with a shrug and a grin.

Ginny’s answering groan of annoyance makes Hermione laugh outright.

~

“Heard you were harassing Ronald the other night.” Hermione says. The library at the Ministry wasn’t so large that you couldn’t run into people, and run into Malfoy she certainly did; frequently and for no reason she could determine. He didn’t even work here.

Malfoy shrugs, looking up at her briefly before back down at the stack of books he had been looking at when she found him. “He’s not so good for the charity business, there was no holiday _cheer_ , Granger. It was a mess without you.” He says, and not for the first time does Hermione feel a little skip to the beating of her heart at something he’s said.

It was quite disturbing.

“I’m sure having you hovering was just as unhelpful, really.” She says, and she should move on, but she so rarely can when it comes to him. “People _like_ giving to Ron, it’s the red hair and War Hero thing he has going for him.” She adds, and Malfoy snorts softly, moving one book off of the stack and to the side.

“I suppose you’re not _wrong_.” He says, looking up at her. He knows, she thinks, that she can’t stop herself from stopping and commenting and it’s quite annoying.

“No, I’m not.” She says, looking away finally, thinking she should continue on her way but she’s quite forgotten what she had come to the library for anyway. “I shouldn’t take up your time, though.” She says, tilting her head as she looks back at him.

He’s giving her a look when she does. “No, you shouldn’t.” He says, “But I’ll be free tomorrow, 7?” He says, and it’s the most forward he’s ever been so she…

Well, she agrees. “Yes, 7 will be fine.” She says, and she thinks this had been his plan all along, when the look on his face is like someone who’s won something.

~

“Can I just say, that I am the only one who can claim I am not surprised?” Ginny asks, and Hermione sighs, pushing their shared fries closer to Ginny’s side of the table.

“No, you can’t.” She says, before rounding on Harry and Ron beside them, “and you two can’t say anything either because I _know_ , really, it was all very clear, apparently.”

Harry holds his hands up, shaking his head, and Ron follows suit a little more slowly.

“That’s right.” Hermione says, pointing her finger at them. “It was a complete surprise to all of you, and my enjoying dinner with him was another surprise. We’re _full_ of surprises.” She says, jabbing her finger at them again.

Ginny, placidly eating a fry, fixes the boys with a _look_ that Hermione doesn’t see because she’s too busy giving them her own look. “Yes, quite surprising that the two people who’ve been tip-toeing around admitting they might fancy each other since January first of this year might finally have gone on an actual date.” She says, tone rife with sarcastic undercurrents. “Completely stunned is what we are. Couldn’t have guessed.”

“Well, we could, and we did.” Harry says, like he’s pointing out a side fact, something that someone else might find interesting. Hermione frowns softly, finger and the hand it is attached to dropping.

“We were all pretty close, though.” Ron adds, and Hermione thinks, maybe, that this is it: this is the day she goes crazy.

“You… You _bet_ on when I would go on a date with _Malfoy?_ ” She asks, incredulous.

Ginny shrugs, popping another fry in her mouth. “Well, we got real bored with the whole… will they… won’t they… it gets tiring after a _full year._ ” She says, giving Hermione a pointed look at the end. “So, we had to spice things up or else one of us might have gone and scared him off.”

Harry nods, shifting in his seat and readying himself to steal a fry from their pile (if Hermione wasn’t eating them, he reasons, he has a chance). “All our ideas consist of rather pointed, and loud, exclamations. Parkinson told Ginny that Malfoy would eventually get around to it if we all seemed to grudgingly deal with him so…”

“So you bet on us, _me_.” Hermione huffs, then smacks Harry’s hand as it darts out for the plate of fries. “Not yours.” She adds, taking one finally, defeated. “I’ll only admit to it having been a little while coming.”

The collective snort from the group makes Hermione purse her lips.

~

“I like this one the best.” Hermione says, and Draco makes a sound somewhere between surprise and confusion.

“They’ve taken 15 minutes already and we don’t have our tea yet.” He says, his frown soft and touched with the confusion he’s clearly feeling. “Their food could be horrid; you can’t like something you haven’t tried yet.”

Hermione shakes her head, smiling a little fondly at him. “It’s the atmosphere that makes a place, more than the food, Draco, honestly.” She says, shaking her head. “Look at the decorations, it’s delightful.” She says, grinning around at the well-decorated café.

Their food levitates over to them slowly, a heavily-laden tray of multiple tiny dishes and 2 tea pots. They had two because Draco could never decide on one, or so Hermione had decided after going out with him for the past week for tea. They could never just share one; he liked to have variety when eating.

“It can’t be your favorite, because they didn’t have the tea you like.” He adds, even as he pours her tea. “And they didn’t have the sandwich you prefer.”

Hermione frowns lightly, thoughtful, and… sometimes he was even more logically minded than she was, but only just sometimes. “I can make new favorites, Draco.” She says. “Like you, for example, are a new favorite of mine.”

Draco makes an annoyed sound. “Don’t be sappy, it’s tea time.” He says, but his cheeks are pink and Hermione is quite pleased with herself.


End file.
